


Decisions

by lachatblanche



Series: Dollhouse AU [38]
Category: X-Men: First Class (2011) - Fandom
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fusion, Consent Issues, Dubious Morality, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-08-16
Updated: 2013-08-16
Packaged: 2017-12-23 15:17:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,456
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/928019
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lachatblanche/pseuds/lachatblanche
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Emma and Erik have a discussion.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Decisions

It was several hours later that the door to Erik’s cell (and it may have been an elegantly decorated meeting room rather than a sparsely-furnished prison chamber but he still couldn’t see it in any other way) finally opened and Emma Frost entered, just as she had promised she would.

‘Mr. Lehnsherr,’ she said crisply as she made her way forward and sat down on the opposite side of the table. ‘I am sorry to have kept you waiting.’

Erik grunted in response but he didn’t say anything, too busy using the time to study Frost as best he could. She had changed her clothes, he noted resentfully, although she was still dressed fully in crisp ice-white just as she had been earlier. She also, he noted with reluctant admiration, appeared to be completely free from all expected signs of fatigue or worry that one usually encountered after getting through a tough and stressful day. God knows that Erik himself probably had a few more worry lines around his eyes following what had happened. Emma, however, looked completely calm and at ease with herself, as if she had just spent the entire day at a luxury spa instead of cleaning up the murder of a very important senior figure and dealing with the betrayals of a good portion of her staff.

Erik gritted his teeth and, keeping a wary eye on her, waited patiently until Frost had made herself comfortable in her seat before finally opening his mouth. 

‘Why am I here?’ he demanded coldly, his tone sharp and unforgiving. Better that they get to the matter directly instead of wasting time on pointless chitchat, he figured.

Emma blinked slowly before giving Erik a placid smile. ‘You are the police officer here, Mr. Lehnsherr,’ she said calmly. ‘Why don’t you tell me?’

Erik paused in surprise before narrowing his eyes in understanding. He glared at Frost and clenched his jaw tightly, determinedly biting his tongue to keep himself from speaking.

‘Come now,’ Emma said cajolingly, smiling slightly. ‘I’m sure you know perfectly well what it is that I am talking about. Let’s start with an easy one, shall we – breaking and entering. How much time does that get you?’

Still Erik did not respond.

Emma sighed. ‘Nothing? Well, I suppose I should tell you. Normally, it would get you a slap on the wrist or a fine or a few hours of community service. However,’ and here she gave him a thin, artificial smile, ‘As we at Shaw Industries are a very … _private_ organisation, we take our break-ins _slightly_ more seriously.’ She met Erik’s eyes. ‘Ten years,’ she said bluntly, watching Erik grit his teeth. ‘You get ten years of jail time for breaking into our facility. And that’s if you are lucky.’

Erik couldn’t keep quiet at that, unable to bear the satisfied look on Frost’s face any longer. ‘You seem to be forgetting that I am a _police officer_ ,’ he snarled, baring his teeth angrily at Emma. ‘I am here for a _reason_. Don’t think you can threaten me so easily, Frost – I’m here as part of an official investigation!’

But Emma merely raised an eyebrow, looking completely unfazed. ‘Really?’ she drawled. ‘And I guess you have a warrant for that?’ She paused for a moment but Erik didn’t answer. ‘No? No documentation? No orders? No coordination with your fellow officers?’ Emma tutted and shook her head in mock-disappointment. ‘Dear me, Mr. Lehnsherr … that doesn’t sound very official at all.’

Erik tore his eyes away from Emma’s face with a snarl, trying valiantly to hide his pained grimace. There was nothing he could say in response to that. He had no rebuttal. As much as he hated to admit it, Emma was right: to any disinterested outsider his actions would sound very dubious indeed. 

‘Shall we continue?’ Emma asked pleasantly. ‘I have a whole list to choose from – assault, battery, gross bodily harm, kidnapping-’

‘ _Kidnapping?_ ’ Erik snarled, almost rising from his seat in furious indignation. ‘ _You_ accuse _me_ of kidnapping?!’

Emma didn’t even bat an eyelash. ‘Certainly,’ she said coolly. ‘Everyone at the Dollhouse is here because they _want_ to be here, Mr. Lehnsherr. All of our _employees_ ,’ she stressed the word, ‘signed their _legally binding_ contracts with sound minds and with all of the relevant details known to them.’ She paused then and cocked her head. ‘Remind me again of the circumstances surrounding _your_ retrieval of Charles Xavier?’ she asked sweetly.

Erik glared at her but he could not escape the sudden chill that came over him as her point struck home. Frost was twisting things, he knew, but he was objective enough to realise that solid arguments could be made for all of her accusations against him, from the breaking-and-entering to the kidnapping – and that was before one added the top-shelf lawyers or the patrons-of-the-Dollhouse judges to the equation. He had no trouble whatsoever imagining how the whole charade would play out and every single possibility ended with the same outcome – with Erik being sent to prison and with the Dollhouse carrying on as usual, as if nothing had happened. 

Erik’s insides twisted at the thought and he felt sick. Suddenly didn’t want to hear any more of it.

‘Fine,’ he bit out, unable to keep the bitterness of the words from showing on his face. ‘I understand. You’ve made your point, Frost. I get it.’ His eyes met hers. ‘So either you tell me what you’re getting at _right now_ or get the hell out of my sight.’

Emma frowned, obviously unimpressed by Erik’s ire. ‘Temper, Mr. Lehnsherr,’ she said reproachfully before sitting back in her chair and watching him with a pensive expression. ‘You are right though,’ she said abruptly, straightening in her chair. ‘Enjoyable as it is, I have much better things to do than hold your numerous offences against the Dollhouse over your head. I shall be direct with you.’ She paused. ‘I am here to make you a deal.’

Erik immediately went on his guard. ‘A deal,’ he repeated slowly, suspicious. ‘You want to make me a deal?’

‘Yes,’ Emma nodded once and then paused contemplatively. ‘Well – I say deal. Perhaps “compromise” would be the better word.’ She glanced up and met Erik’s eyes. ‘You see, Mr. Lehnsherr, I want to ask that you forget about everything that happened today. Just erase it from your mind and pretend that it never happened. In fact,’ Emma’s voice was cool. ‘I strongly suggest that you forget _everything_ about the Dollhouse entirely.’

Erik couldn’t say that he hadn’t seen this coming. ‘I see,’ he said evenly, his face revealing nothing. ‘And if I refuse?’

Emma raised an eyebrow. ‘Is that really very likely to happen?’ she asked lightly.

Erik gritted his teeth. ‘Just answer the damn question, Frost,’ he snapped.

Emma sighed and glanced down at her nails. ‘Well,’ she murmured, her tone dry, ‘I suppose that you could always choose prison …’

Ah, Erik thought with an incongruous surge of vicious satisfaction. And there it was.

‘So it’s a threat?’ he sneered, his lip curling upwards in disgust. ‘Do as you ask or get thrown in jail? Or maybe even the Attic? ’ His fists tightened. ‘Is that what this is, Frost?’

Emma cocked an eyebrow. ‘Is that what you think?’ she asked coolly. At Erik’s glare she let out a sigh. ‘No,’ she said quietly after a moment, closing her eyes and shaking her head. ‘That is not what this is, Mr. Lehnsherr. Sebastian, perhaps, would have made you that deal but then he always was rather vulgar. Threats, you see, were _his_ weapon of choice.’ She looked Erik straight in the eye, ‘I, on the other hand, prefer to catch my flies with honey rather than vinegar.’

‘What are you saying?’ Erik asked warily.

‘What I am saying, Mr. Lehnsherr,’ Emma said, slowly leaning forward and setting her elbows on the table while lacing her hands together, ‘Is that you need not fear any reprisals from me. I will not be prosecuting you no matter what you choose. After all, I do not desire your punishment,’ she paused, ‘I desire your _cooperation_. Tell me,’ she said pleasantly, ‘what can I do to persuade you to do as I ask?’

Erik immediately leaned back, his lip curling. ‘So _that’s_ what you are doing,’ he said, letting out a derisive snort. ‘You’re not trying to threaten me. You’re trying to _bribe_ me.’

If he expected Emma to be discomfited by the bluntness of his accusation then he would have been disappointed.

‘Well yes,’ Emma replied simply, shrugging her shoulders. ‘If that is what it takes, then yes – I _am_ bribing you.’

Erik’s eyes narrowed. ‘Then I’m afraid you have the wrong man,’ he said harshly, injecting a measure of steel into his voice. ‘Because I do _not_ take bribes and I do _not_ make deals with criminals. You can save your words, Frost – I don’t need to hear them.’ He leaned back in his chair and folded his arms across his chest, glaring at her. It was clear that, as far as he was concerned, their conversation was over.

Emma, however, didn’t seem to have noticed. ‘You’re sure about that?’ she asked, her tone light.

Erik jerked his head downwards in a firm nod but Emma did not look convinced. 

‘So,’ she said slowly. ‘What you are saying is that there is absolutely nothing that I can offer you that will make you keep quiet?’

Erik opened his mouth, the words _you’re damn right there isn’t_ on the very tip of his tongue, when he suddenly paused. ‘What exactly are you offering?’ he asked slowly, his eyes fixed carefully on Emma’s face.

Emma smiled. ‘Whatever you want,’ she said easily, not quite able to hide the burgeoning expression of smugness on her face. ‘Absolutely anything that your heart desires.’

Erik didn’t even have to think about it. ‘Charles,’ he said immediately, gripping the edge of the table tightly. ‘I want Charles.’

‘Hmm,’ Emma didn’t appear to be all that surprised by his request. ‘For the night?’ she asked innocently.

The growl that Erik let out then was almost animalistic. 

‘I want Charles _out_ ,’ he snarled, spreading his hands flat on the surface of the table and leaning forward. ‘I want his memories put back in his head and I want him out of this place. _Immediately._ ’

‘Ah,’ Emma’s expression lost its slyness and morphed into something graver. ‘Yes, I rather thought you might ask for that. I am afraid, however, that this is the one thing that we cannot give you. You see,’ she paused and met Erik’s eyes carefully, as if silently warning him to control his temper, ‘Charles still has a little less than two years left on his contract and – while I personally would hand him over to you in a heartbeat – I am afraid that to do so would raise alarms. Charles hasn’t gone unnoticed, you know,’ she said, and there was no sarcasm or affectation in her manner, only a straightforward grimness to her tone that was reflected in the stiff manner in which she held herself, ‘He has consistently been one of our top Actives both in terms of financial return and customer satisfaction – he is requested far more than any other Active in the House, I believe, and his contracts generally veer more towards the long-term than the short-term – and he is favoured by a great many wealthy and influential people who could otherwise be quite troublesome to placate …’ She paused for a moment. ‘Not to mention the fact that Sebastian’s little crush on him went _far_ from unnoticed.’ Her tone was dry. ‘No, I’m afraid that Charles has drawn far too much attention, Mr. Lehnsherr. To set him loose would not only undermine my position as Director of the House but it would also be of no use whatsoever – the moment they realised that I had released him they would have a team sent after him. He would barely have time to set foot through his own door before he would be taken and returned to the Dollhouse to serve out the rest of his contract.’

Erik’s hands were gripped tightly around the edge of the table, his fingers almost bloodless as he listened to Emma’s words. ‘What if we left?’ he demanded, trying not to show his agitation. ‘If Charles and I left – if we went away to – to _Germany_ or somewhere? Somewhere far away?’

‘Then they would find him there,’ Emma answered calmly, her tone level. ‘And he would either be returned here or be placed into the German Dollhouse. You, on the other hand, would be shot.’

But Erik missed that last sentence, fixated as he was upon the one before it.

‘The _German_ Dollhouse?’ he demanded, unable to hide the strain in his voice. ‘Are you saying that – that there’s a Dollhouse in _Germany_?’

Emma raised an eyebrow. ‘Yes,’ she said sardonically, ‘And one in France and in Britain and Greece and Russia and Italy and … well, honestly, Mr. Lehnsherr, I could probably save more time naming places where there _aren’t_ Houses.’

Erik had slumped back into his seat, his face pale and his palms suddenly sweaty. ‘Then it’s no use,’ he muttered, looking uncharacteristically shaken. ‘They’re everywhere. There are too many, how can …’ but he trailed off, unable to finish his sentence.

Emma was watching him, looking unusually sympathetic. ‘I know,’ she said quietly, and when Erik looked up at her he saw that she did indeed seem to understand just what he was feeling at that moment. ‘I understand. It seems impossible, does it not? To fight against something so huge and so powerful from the outside …’ She allowed her words to trail off but something in her tone made Erik frown and sit up, suddenly on his guard.

‘Are you-’ he started but Emma suddenly looked bored.

‘My time is running out, Mr. Lehnsherr,’ she said coldly, glancing at the clock on the opposite wall and folding her hands together. ‘You must make your choice. If you cannot have Charles released from here then what is it that you want? Or will you decline my offer?’

Erik sucked in a breath, holding it deep inside his lungs as his mind raced. He knew even without having to think on it that he would take Emma’s offer. He very much wanted to believe that the choice was a difficult one but in truth it was not. A few minutes ago he would have happily thrown the offer back in Emma’s face but now … He sighed bitterly and shook his head. Now he was beginning to realise just how impossible the task was that he had set for himself. He had finally begun to comprehend just how far the influence of the Dollhouse actually reached. 

He was just one man, he reasoned. There was nothing that he could do – not by himself and probably not even as a detective. He had been able to rely on his job and his department thus far but he doubted that the police investigation into the Dollhouse would last for very much longer. He had not missed Emma’s earlier reference to the Dollhouse having many rich and influential clients, and there were doubtless powerful figures among them who could see to it that Erik’s investigation was not only crushed but buried deep enough that it would never be opened again. 

It was much better for him to take the deal, Erik told himself even whilst trying to ignore the dual sensations of anger and despair that were currently burrowing into his gut. It made sense. He had done his duty. He had tried his best and he had failed. Maybe later he would be able to work up the strength and courage to try again but for now … for now it was over. At least this way, he figured, he could leave with _something_ to make it all worthwhile … 

He allowed his mind to wander, considering. There was so much potentially within his grasp – the Dollhouse was very rich and very powerful and was all but unhindered by normal limitations, whether legal or ethical. There were so many things that he could choose, so many things that he could learn, so many things that he could ask for … Not least, the dark side of his brain whispered insidiously, the chance to finally be with Charles the way he had dreamed about for so long and with such little hope …

Erik stamped down on that line of thought at once, immediately disgusted with himself. He was better than the bastards that frequented the Dollhouse, he swore inwardly, and he would never do what they did. He had come here to rescue Charles, not abuse him. He would not betray the victims of the Dollhouse in such a way – not Charles, not any of them.

Even as he promised himself this, an image of a face appeared in his head, cutting through the fog of his anger and despondency and looming large in his mind’s eye. And suddenly Erik knew what it was that he was going to ask for.

‘Magda,’ he said firmly, lifting his chin and staring Emma straight in the eye. ‘I want Magda. I want her to be set free and never bothered again. That’s my price. Give Magda her freedom and you will never hear from me again.’ His mouth snapped shut and he clenched his jaw, staring at Emma as if daring her to refuse him.

Emma was frowning. ‘Magda,’ she repeated slowly. After a moment recognition dawned in her eyes. ‘Ah, I believe you mean Gypsy. Yes,’ she said slowly, looking thoughtful, ‘Yes, I believe that I might be able to arrange that … yes, I think that will do very well indeed …’

Erik’s heart began to thump loudly. ‘So we have a deal?’ he demanded, holding himself stiffly and not looking away from Emma’s eyes. ‘I agree to keep my mouth shut and Magda goes free? That’s it?’

Emma did not answer immediately.

‘Well?’ Erik snapped, feeling strangely agitated.

‘Well,’ Emma said slowly, glancing down at her nails. ‘That could certainly be it if that’s what you really want …’

‘It is,’ Erik said quickly.

Emma gave him a reproving look. ‘I wouldn’t be too quick to answer, Mr. Lehnsherr – you haven’t even heard what I am going to say next.’

‘I doubt anything you say will make me change my mind,’ Erik scoffed, folding his arms and watching Emma with wary eyes.

Emma’s eyes glinted at that. ‘Oh?’ she asked innocently, again glancing down at her nails. ‘Not even if I were to offer you the chance to speak to Charles Xavier? The _real_ Charles Xavier?’

Erik stared at her. ‘What?’ he asked flatly.

Emma smiled. ‘Well,’ she said carefully. ‘You did say that you wanted to see Charles … or was I wrong to think so?’

There was silence. 

‘You weren’t wrong,’ Erik said stiffly, speaking through tightly-clenched teeth.

‘Yes, I thought not,’ Emma said dryly, a degree of amusement clearly audible in her voice. She shook out her coiffed blonde hair and gave Erik a look. ‘I can have him here in the same room as you within the hour, if you so wish.’

Erik’s eyes narrowed. ‘And why would you do that?’ he demanded, trying to ignore the rapid thump of his pulse. ‘And don’t try to tell me it’s out of the goodness of your heart, Frost. We both know better than that.’

Emma looked almost insulted by the very suggestion. ‘Don’t be ridiculous,’ she said primly, letting out a loud sniff and lifting her chin. ‘Of course that’s not why I am doing this. That would be absurd.’ She glanced at him. ‘As no doubt you have already guessed, I am doing this simply because I expect you to do something for me in return. A trade, if you will.’

Erik raised an eyebrow, intrigued in spite of himself. ‘Oh?’

‘Yes,’ Emma gave him a thin, humourless smile. ‘You see, Mr. Lehnsherr, I would very much like for you to join us. Here, I mean. At the Dollhouse.’

There was an immediate silence. It lasted long enough for the atmosphere to become distinctly uncomfortable before Erik finally spoke.

‘For your sake, Miss Frost, I hope you are joking,’ Erik’s voice was quiet but when he looked at Emma his eyes were burning with violent anger and his fists were clenched tightly at his sides, the knuckles white with tension, ‘Because if after everything you think for one miserable _second_ that I would agree to be a fucking _Doll_ -’

‘I did not say that you would be a Doll,’ Emma said coldly, interrupting him. She sniffed and removed a delicate blonde curl from her face before continuing on in a more sedate manner. ‘I was thinking more on the lines of you being part of the security team,’ she said, eyeing him meditatively. ‘A Handler, to be precise. _Charles’s_ Handler, maybe. If you’re good.’

Erik stared at her with a mixture of suspicion and mute disbelief. Emma stared back, waiting.

After a moment Erik blinked and shook his head, attempting to clear it. ‘What about Howlett?’ he asked finally, unable to think of anything else to say. ‘I thought that he was Charles’s Handler.’

Emma’s eyes narrowed. ‘I’ll be dealing with Mr. Howlett soon enough,’ she said coolly, her eyes fixed on Erik’s. ‘But right now my focus is on you, Mr. Lehnsherr.’ She glanced down at her watch and made a small, thoughtful noise. ‘You will have to make your decision quickly, I’m afraid,’ she said, not quite apologetic. ‘I have several important matters to attend to, you know, now that poor dear Sebastian is dead.’

Erik suppressed the sarcastic response that immediately leapt to the tip of his tongue and shook his head instead. ‘I need more time than this,’ he said tightly, not entirely surprised to find that he was actually considering the offer. It was for _Charles_ , after all. ‘You cannot ask me to make this decision so quickly. Not on something like this.’

Emma arched an eyebrow. ‘Why not?’ she asked idly, tracing out a pattern on the tabletop with her index finger. ‘I’ve asked people to make bigger decisions than this in much less time than I’ve given you. They all seem to have managed well enough.’

‘ _Bullshit_ ,’ Erik snarled, leaning forward over the table and all but growling at Emma in sudden anger. ‘ _“They all managed well enough”?_ They were pushed into a corner and you know it. That isn’t free will, it is _duress_. Is this how you do business, Frost? With coercion and force?’

A flicker of expression crossed Emma’s face but she didn’t say anything.

Erik let out a harsh laugh. ‘You think you know me,’ he said contemptuously, allowing his lip to curl. ‘You think you have me all figured out but really you don’t know a damn thing. And then you have the _nerve_ to think that you can dangle Charles in front of my face like that and ask me to sign away my future just for a chance to _speak_ to him?’ He shook his head, revulsion clear on his face. ‘No,’ he said firmly, gazing at Emma with disdain. ‘You either overestimate the strength of my feelings for Charles or you underestimate just how much satisfaction I will find in grinding your house of horrors into the dust.’ He lifted his head and met Emma’s eyes square on. ‘No deal,’ he said firmly before turning his head away in unfettered disgust.

Emma did not speak. She had sat stock-still throughout his entire diatribe, as if she had been frozen in place by the force of his wrath. She remained silent for a moment longer after he had ended but then she turned to him and raised an eyebrow. ‘So you refuse, then?’ she asked dryly.

Erik clenched his jaw and levelled a venomous glare at her but Emma merely stared back impassively. After a moment, however, she looked away and sighed, her shoulders slumping slightly.

‘You are right,’ she said quietly, her head bowed in an acknowledgement of regret. ‘That was … badly done of me. Very badly done.’ She smiled wryly. ‘That, I am afraid, was a remnant of Sebastian’s way of running things. Bad habits really are the hardest to shake off, aren’t they?’ She let out a sigh before pinching the bridge of her nose and finally straightening her shoulders. ‘I suppose that if I really want to rid this place of his shadow and change things for the better then I should do it right from the start.’ She took a deep breath. ‘Fine then,’ she said, drawing herself up proudly and looking straight into Erik’s eyes. ‘I withdraw my condition. You may see Charles.’

Erik’s eyes narrowed. ‘With no conditions?’ he asked suspiciously.

‘With no conditions,’ Emma confirmed.

‘I don’t have to join you?’

‘No,’ Emma said coolly. ‘You don’t.’

Erik frowned in thought.

‘However …’

_Aha_ , Erik thought savagely.

‘ _However_ ,’ Emma repeated in a quiet, even tone, ‘I shall make you an offer of employment one more time after you have seen Charles. Whether or not you accept then is up to you.’

‘Oh really?’ Erik asked sceptically, unable to keep from sneering. ‘So you’re saying that I can just see him and then – what? – walk straight out of here?’

‘That is exactly what I am saying,’ Emma’s face was solemn and somehow – _somehow_ – Erik found himself believing her in spite of himself. ‘There are no strings attached here, Mr. Lehnsherr. Everyone who works at the Dollhouse chooses to do so of their own free will. Granted,’ and here she grimaced, ‘some of our methods of persuasion can be somewhat … _dubious_ in nature, but we nevertheless try our best to make the process as transparent and straightforward as possible.’ She met Erik’s eyes and her tone when she next spoke was soft. ‘I want you to be here because you want to be here, Mr. Lehnsherr. Not because you are forced to be.’

‘Hmm,’ Erik was watching her with a frown. ‘And you think that ten minutes of speaking to Charles Xavier will be enough to change my mind?’

Emma’s lips pulled upwards in a slow, secretive smile.

‘Let’s just say that I am a great believer in Charles’s ability to do the unexpected,’ she murmured, before slowly rising from her chair. ‘And – since I am already in the middle of an unexpected bout of kindness – I’ll be generous with you: I’ll let you see him for _twenty_ minutes.’

And with that she turned and walked out of the room, leaving Erik staring after her.


End file.
